The subject matter disclosed herein relates to electric motor braking and, more particularly, to electric motor braking using thermoelectric cooling.
Many systems are designed to use a motor controller to control speed and torque of an electric motor. A shaft of the electric motor drives an inertial mass and an aiding or apposing torque of a load. When accelerating, the electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical torque to accelerate the inertial mass of the load. When decelerating, kinetic energy of the load is typically converted back into electrical energy by the electric motor. If possible, all or some of the regenerated energy can be transferred back into a power system of the electric motor. If this transfer is not desired or the deceleration needs to be faster, a braking resistor is used. When a braking resistor is used, the regenerated energy is dissipated as heat. The heat created is wasted energy, which in turn, causes the motor controller to run hotter. To accommodate heating effects of the braking resistor, the size of passive cooling elements used to remove heat from the motor controller may have to be increased.
In applications where the internal temperature of the motor controller is near the design limits of electronic components of the motor controller, life expectancy of the electronic components can be substantially reduced. Reducing heat in the motor controller can increase the reliability of the motor controller.